Can we sin without being tempted?

So, if Satan did not exist, or if he had not fallen, would we still sin?

Moses records that Lucifer became "the devil, the father of all lies" (Moses 4:4). Mormon calls him "the author of all sin" (Helaman 6:30). These seem to indicate that Satan is in fact the cause of all sin.

But let me ask this question: In premortality, why did Satan rebel? Who tempted him? Was he not a spirit child of God, as we all were?

What about the Millenium? Satan will be bound. Some speculate that this will be by our righteousness, but Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith clarifies that he will literally not be permitted to tempt us. "There are many among us who teach that the binding ofSatan will be merely the binding which those dwelling on the earth will place upon him by their refusal to hear his enticings. This is not so. He will not have the privilege during that period of time to tempt any man" (Church History and Modern Revelation, 1:192).

So, will there be any sin in the Millenium? How could there not be? For none are perfect but Christ. If those born during the Millenium never sinned, they would not need Christ's Atonement. Zechariah and Isaiah mention sin during the Millenium (see Zech 14:16-19, Isa 65:20). But Jospeh Smith said it best: "There will be wicked men on the earth during the thousand years. The heathen nations who will not come up to worship will be visited with the judgements of God, and must eventually be destroyed from the earth" (Teachings, p.268-9).

So, yes... We sin by our own accord. We are who we are. If we are wicked, we choose wicked, regardless of whether we are tempted or not. Satan tries to get us to choose to become wicked, and if we continue to choose wickedly, we become wicked. At that point Satan no longer needs to tempt, for we choose evil on our own accord.

Conversely, as we choose good, we become good. And as we follow Christ, there comes a point where we no longer need guidance from God, for we are righteous and choose righteously of our own accord. Elder Oaks talked about the "challenge to become", a great talk.

I recently read a verse that kinda threw these theories out the window. "And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have the bitter they could not know the sweet" (D&C 29:39).

I read that verse over and over again. I was so sure of my conclusions, that I couldn't understand it any other way. But there it was... telling me I was wrong.

But then I finaly read the next verse: "Wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation."

I wasn't wrong (thank goodness). The devil is the "author of sin" because of the fall. Not only that, he taught men how to satisfy their evil desires. He taught Cain to murder. He taught men how to sin (although I think we would have figured it out for ourselves eventually). But he is not the cause of sin. We are the sinners. Become.